Hyderabad: Close to four years after his death, the Telangana high court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the suspicious death of young law graduate Dharawath Nikhil from Suryapet.The body of the 22-year-old, belonging to Scheduled Tribe, was retrieved from a Nagarjunasagar project canal in Oct 2022.While the Chilkur police initially registered a suspicious death case, suspecting suicide, they later altered it to murder after Nikhil’s family raised suspicion of an honour killing linked to his relationship with upper caste woman.While the case was subsequently handed over to the CID, the victim’s family alleged that the investigation process lacked transparency.Nikhil’s father, Dharawath Bhaskar, approached the high court in Nov 2022, seeking justice.He alleged that the investigation was influenced by people in power and accused agencies of shielding the real culprits.While hearing the petition, the court observed that investigations by the local police and subsequently the CID were “marked by grave inconsistencies, patent investigative lapses and circumstances giving rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias”.While handing over the case to CBI, it directed the agency to explore all angles including murder, criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and caste-based motives under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and to register a fresh case and complete the investigation in a time-bound manner, preferably within six months.The CBI has also been directed to examine afresh the last-seen theory, call data records, digital evidence and CCTV footage pertaining to the incident.
Lapses in probe: Court
“This court cannot overlook the specific allegations of a caste-based motive underlying the incident, given the deceased belonged to an ST community and was involved in a relationship opposed by the family of the girl. Such irreconcilable investigation is vulnerable to serious doubt, thereby necessitating an independent, thorough, scientifically robust enquiry,” the court said.“Although the investigation has been transferred to CID and the case is altered with murder charge (302 IPC), the court is of the view that a mere intra-departmental transfer within the state machinery does not sufficiently dispel the apprehensions of bias, particularly when the initial investigation itself is under serious challenge,” the judge observed.Referring to the official case records, the court noted that the inquest conducted at the govt hospital, Kodad, revealed that Nikhil’s body was recovered from water with multiple injuries on his left hand, ribs, thigh, face and neck.The neck area showed severe swelling of blood vessels and damage extending to the chest, leading investigators to suspect strangulation before the body was dumped.The court disposed of the petition filed by Nikhil’s father while making strong adverse observations on the police and CID investigation conducted so far in the case.
